Maisy Fernandez,
May 06, 2009
I had a hard enough time looking at, and listening to, Daisy de la Hoya when she was trying to capture Bret Michaels heart on Rock of Love. A vision of plastic surgery, bleached hair extensions and black eyeliner, Daisy's conversation skills were marginal at best. But she could rock the tiny outfits like nobody's business, which is why I wasn't at all surprised to discover she was getting her own reality show, Daisy of Love, on VH1.
In fact, I'm watching it as I write this, and she just asked one of her suitors "Soooo ... what do you do-ish?" Translation: What is your occupation? You couldn't write a better parody script. And don't even get me started on the tools she's supposed to be dating -- one of them just urinated in another guy's neon green sneaker.
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Then I started thinking about other random reality show cast members who eventually scored their own shows. Thing is, they wouldn't get the opportunity if they didn't have some sort of fan potential -- but whether it's love-to-hate-it potential or an actual fan love-fest is another story. Here, we size up recent or upcoming reality shows that star former contestants.
Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson
Being Hugh Hefner's eye candy (and we shudder to think what else) does have its perks. Once you leave him and The Girls Next Door behind, anyway. Bridget Marquardt scored the show Bridget's Sexiest Beaches, where she travels to different beaches across the world, on the Travel channel.
Meanwhile, E! is banking on Kendra's feeble mind and horse-like laugh to entertain viewers when her yet-to-be-named show premieres this summer. The show follows Kendra as she moves out of the Playboy mansion and lives on her own for the first time, where she will have to learn to cook, clean and do laundry on her own. Or, you could just watch your own teenagers come of age.
Train-wreck potential: Kendra, 9.5. The mere thought of her figuring out how to use a washing machine is enough to make me set my DVR now.
Train-wreck potential: Bridget, 2. Really, it's pretty decent. Bridget has a degree in broadcast journalism and she puts it to good use.
Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian
It's true: Kim Kardashian's sisters do take a bit of a backseat in Keeping Up With the Kardashians. But the siblings will get their own chance to shine when they move to Florida to open their new boutique, Dash, with cameras in tow. According to E!, the ladies will try to balance work with Miami's infamous party scene. It's set to debut in August.
Train-wreck potential: 5. While the Kardashian sisters are more subdued than most other reality stars, anything can happen when you plop two hot young ladies smack in the middle of one of the country's biggest party scenes.
Tiffany "New York" Pollard
We first met New York when she was Flavor Flav's suitor in the first season of Flavor of Love and claimed to be in love with him after knowing him for about a week. With an incredibly abrasive (yet strangely addictive) personality, it was no surprise that she soon got two seasons of her own dating show, I Love New York. Those were followed by New York Goes to Hollywood (see synopsis of first episode here), in which she tried to get an acting job in Hollywood.
On Monday, her newest offering, New York Goes to Work, premiered on VH1. In it, America chooses from three jobs each week, which New York will then have to perform. (Here's my first vote: For the love of Pete, get a real job that doesn't involve someone filming you.)
Train-wreck potential: 9. New York on potentially working as a ranch hand: "I like animals fine, as long as they are mannerful and use proper English diction."
Whitney Port
Perhaps the most famous of recycled reality show casts, Lauren Conrad has become a bonafide celebrity and tabloid darling after moving from Laguna Beach to The Hills. This is probably the path many others wish they could follow, but it doesn't happen for everyone. Case in point: Whitney's offshoot from The Hills, The City. It's been renewed but I don't know anyone that wanted to watch it after the first couple episodes.
Train-wreck potential (for season two): 7. But not because anything dramatic happens ... just because it's incredibly boring.
Jason Mesnick
Jason definitely wasn't the first former contestant from The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise to be repurposed for a new show -- think Trista Rehn, Jennifer Schefft, DeAnna Pappas, Bob Guiney and now Jillian Harris -- but after the recent Melissa Rycroft/Molly Malaney debacle, he's now the most infamous. The fervor has died down, but his leaving-his-fiancée-on-national-TV stunt was one of the biggest reality show scandals ever.
Train-wreck potential: 10. After that mess, we're so glad Melissa is getting a diversion, and her props, on Dancing With the Stars.
Ahmad "Real" Givens and Kamal "Chance" Givens
These two brothers -- who call themselves The Stallionairess -- both competed to win New York's heart in I Love New York 2. They were in I Love Money, I Love Money 2, and then scored their own dating show, Real Chance of Love. Neither emerged with successful relationships, and season two is reportedly filming.
Train-wreck potential (for season two): 8. It's hard to believe either of these guys can love anyone more than they love themselves. Especially when the cast seems like rejects from Flavor of Love auditions.
Megan Hauserman
If you've got a hot body, 30 bikinis, a small dog, a bitchy/manipulative streak and one brain cell, that's apparently enough to score you parts on five reality shows -- and then, finally, your own program. Megan started on Beauty and the Geek, sought the heart of Bret Michaels of Rock of Love 2, migrated over to I Love Money, and tried to learn some scruples on Rock of Love Charm School.
VH1 has recycled her again for Trophy Wife -- a dating show that makes no qualms about Megan's gold-digging ways. No word on a premiere date yet, but we're sure it will include plenty of drama. And skin.
Train-wreck potential: 8. If it follows the patterns of her other "performances," this will be a hot mess.
